Teachers.net
Chicka-Chicka-Boom-Boom/ Chicka Challenge (Elementary, Literature)
Is your Kindergarten class about to read the book, Chicka-Chicka-Boom-Boom? If they are, and you want a few wonderful activity ideas to reinforce phonemic awareness and letter identification skills, look no further. Here you'll find over...
Curated OER
Confetti Eggs
Students create a confetti filled egg. In this art lesson students use multiple steps to decorate and fill an egg. The result is an egg that has been hollowed, filled with confetti, and has a decorated shell. The students break them open...
Curated OER
Making Nests
Second graders explore the lives of birds by researching their natural habitats. In this nest building lesson, 2nd graders investigate the craft of making a bird nest and discuss their useful qualities for the animals. Students utilize...
Curated OER
Crafting Models of Efficiency
Young scholars build and compare models of both an energy inefficient and efficient classroom. For this energy efficiency lesson, students creatively use recycled materials to build two separate classroom models. They factor in concepts...
University of Northern Iowa
Additional Folklife Information
Use a packet packed with ideas for how to celebrate the traditions of your country, state, community, and pupils's families. Suggestions for how to draw on oral and material traditions, customs, beliefs, music, and stories all find...
Teacher's Corner
Seuss Visualizing
Only one thing can compare to the whimsy of Dr. Seuss: a child's imagination. Pair the bouncing narrative of a Dr. Seuss book with your learner's illustrations in a fun reading activity. As you read a selected passage, your class draws...
Roald Dahl
The Twits - Dirty Beards
The problem with beards is that they collect a lot of food. The first activity in an 11-part unit related to The Twits by Roald Dahl explores the hairy jungle that is Mr. Twit's beard. A concluding project has learners create their own...
K12 Reader
Identify the Antonym
What happens to a sentence when you replace a word with its antonym? A two-part instructional activity asks learners to select words opposite in meaning to provided words, and then to craft sentences using antonyms for given words.
Curated OER
Lesson Plan: The Net Neutrality Debate
Should Internet users who send data-heavy content pay higher fees than those who are involved in activities, like sending an email, that have less content? This question is at the heart of the Net Neutrality debate. After watching a PBS...
ProQuest
Writing Cinquain Poetry
Young poets research an animal and use the information they gather to craft and illustrate a cinquain.
Pace University
Short Stories
A reading of Kevin Lamb's short story "Lost in the Woods" launches a study of how writers use elements such as foreshadowing, mood, character development, setting, and conflict to engage readers. Class members then demonstrate what they...
Asian Art Museum
Japanese Architecture for Elementary School Students
Art and architecture go hand-in-hand. Kids watch clips from the Hayo Miyazaki film Spirited Away to better understand Japanese customs and architecture. The discussion questions included are very good, and will help you lead the class in...
Scholastic
Developing a Main Character
Asking kids to craft their own stories? Get them starting with a character planning sheet that asks them to identify the character's likes and dislikes, his or her strengths and fears, a goal the character wants to achieve, and...
Brigham Young University
It's All in the Details
Designers communicate their vision for a set through a progression from thumbnail sketches, to drawings, to renderings. After examining a series of renderings, class members begin work on their own rendering paying particular attention...
University of Iowa
Every Atom: Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself”
Discussion questions for Walt Whitman's "Son of Myself" ask class members to reflect on the beauty that can be found in labor, the sense of identity that transcends divisions, and on the many riddles in Whitman's poem. ...
PBS
Catch-22: Satirize This!
Some assignments are great, some can become great, and some have greatness thrust upon them. This one is great. After completing Joseph Heller's classic satire, Catch-22, groups craft and present their own political satire.
Pixton Comics Inc.
Elements of an Epic
Mythic heroes, gods and goddesses, and epic tales come alive as young artists craft their own graphic novel or mind map for classic epics, including The Odyssey, Beowulf, Harry Potter, and Star Wars, identifying the...
Curated OER
Warm Thoughts About the Cold
“What do you think life is like at the South Pole?” After responding to this journal prompt, class members read and discuss the New York Times article, “At South Pole, New Home for a New Era.” Using resources available from the Times’...
Curated OER
Unsent Letter: Characterization in Briar Rose
After completing Jane Yolen’s Briar Rose, class members assume the voice of Gemma and craft a personal letter to her granddaughter telling Becca how she feels about Becca’s actions and the discoveries at Chelmno. Complete directions for...
Curated OER
Chapter Tableaux: Visualizing The Call of the Wild
Do your young readers have difficulty visualizing what they read? Although the activity described here is for The Call of the Wild, the strategy could be used with any narrative. At the conclusion of each chapter of Jack London’s novel,...
Curated OER
The Mysterious Present
Even history can be the basis for the inquiry process. First, several images of a bowls and vessels used in Japanese tea ceremonies are examined. Then, the class crafts questions about the origin, purpose, and use of the items. They use...
Curated OER
Who's In, Who's Out?
Working in groups, class members develop survey questions to be used on campus to identify groups that feel excluded or disrespected. After assembling the questions and conducting the survey, class members analyze their findings and...
Curated OER
Maniac Magee: Found Poem
Instruct your readers to scrounge through the pages of Maniac Magee in search for descriptive passages or words they may use to write poetry. As they look for meaningful, sensory descriptors in Jerry Spinelli's novel, readers...
Curated OER
Art with Colored Shaving Cream
Students use different textures and mediums to paint with.